ABSTRACT
Sense of belonging refers to the extent a student feels included, accepted, valued, and supported on their campus. The developmental process of belonging is interwoven with the social identity development of diverse college students. Moreover, belonging is influenced by the campus environment, relationships, and involvement opportunities as well as a need to master the student role and achieve academic success. Although the construct of sense of belonging is complex and multilayered, a consistent theme across the chapters in this book is that the relationship between sense of belonging and intersectionality of identity cannot be ignored, and must be integrated into any approach to fostering belonging.Over the last 10 years, colleges and universities have started grappling with the notion that their approaches to maintaining and increasing student retention, persistence, and graduation rates were no longer working. As focus shifted to uncovering barriers to student success while concurrently recognizing student success as more than solely academic factors, the term “student sense of belonging” gained traction in both academic and co-curricular settings. The editors noticed the lack of a consistent definition, or an overarching theoretical approach, as well as a struggle to connect disparate research. A compendium of research, applications, and approaches to sense of belonging did not exist, so they brought this book into being to serve as a single point of reference in an emerging and promising field of study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|56 pages
Theories And Foundations
chapter 3|22 pages
Reviewing, Theorizing, and Looking Ahead
part Two|149 pages
Sense of Belonging Across Student Populations
chapter 5|12 pages
How and Where do Queer- and Trans-Spectrum College Students Experience Belonging?
chapter 7|11 pages
On the Outside Looking in
chapter 9|8 pages
Latinx College Students' Sense of Belonging
chapter 11|9 pages
Economic Stratification in Higher Education
chapter 12|9 pages
Language Unheard, Voices Silenced
part Three|76 pages
Implications and Applications